have a great night and a great holiday. ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. i'm lou dobbs. the week-long escalation of israeli-palestinian violence has seen thousands of rockets launched into the jewish state from gaza, more than 2,000 started air strikes by the israeli military in response. hundreds are dead or injured, and the world's top diplomat has been sent into the fray. talks of a truce brokered by egypt began to heat up, president obama dispatched secretary of state clinton to the middle east in what is being called an emergency mission, mission to augment efforts by you in chief of find a diplomatic way to avoid an all-out ground war between

israel and the moss. as of tonight, no deal has been reached. ambassador michael moran saying israel is looking for a lasting solution, not just a temporary halt to the ongoing violence. telling fox news that clinton is not there to put her imprint on an already agreed to cease fire but they're for diplomacy. eight top hamas official echoing those remarks telling reuters that israel has yet to even respond to proposals and that any deal must wait until tomorrow. clinton landed jerusalem a few hours ago ahead of a meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> in the days ahead the united states we will work with our partners here in israel and across the region bolstering security for the people of israel. conditions for the people of gaza. and move toward a comprehensive peace for all people of the region.

lou: the secretary of state travels to the west bank for 9:00 a.m. meeting with president mahmoud a boss. the elected political party in the gaza -- a power broker. they still considered a terrorist organization. clinton then departs from cairo to meet with egyptian president allegedly trying to broker a deal between israel and hamas, more than likely looking to preserve billions of dollars in u.s. aid to is nation. president obama has requested more than one half million in congress. tonight we will examine the parameters of any so-called israeli gaza peace deal and the real possibility that such a deal has in essence been stuck as -- struck already. been kept officially on hold until the obama administration could take some of the credit.

some of the brightest minds in the business. john bolton, fox middle east affairs analyst. in other major developments tonight, the world's most important banker doing well street investors no favors real acquainting them instead with the scary parts of the fiscal cliff story. the federal reserve chairman spooking investors saying that the bank would not have infinite ability to address the fallout from the failure to avoid going over the so-called fiscal cliff. the dow jones industrial today losing seven points, s&p, nasdaq up fractionally. president obama returned to the white house after a three day trip to -- through southeast asia with stops in cambodia, thailand, and burma. the president takes part in a yearly presidential tradition. the parting of the national thanksgiving turkey in the rose

garden. the prime minister of israel reiterating tonight that the cease-fire deal has been reached he told reporters that israel will take whatever action is necessary to defend its people but stated a diplomatic resolution would be preferred. joining as, fox is national-security analyst, former ambassador to the united nations. let me turn to you first. is it your sense that a deal has been reached between hamas and israel? >> because israel has accomplished the objectives, take out the missiles in gaza. we think this is all about israel and hamas and gaza. it's about israel having the ability six months down the road said, if it feels it needs to, take a preemptive strike against the iran nuclear strike and not

have fox business retaliate directly against israel. why are they doing what they're doing? that want to take at 10 pounds of missiles, particularly long-range missiles capable of reaching the population centers. and by doing that, a pre-emptive attack in order to have a preemptive attack, and i think they have accomplished that and are ready to make a deal. lou: saying that they are conditioning the battleground and have eliminated, if you will, the right flank. do you concur? >> i hope that is right, but i don't think so. the fact is that the iranians have been smuggling these long-range rockets and for some time. we thought they might have the stability really going back to two dozen six. this is a demonstration that they have at least some of it. i think that very fact that israel mobilize 30,000 reservists was some indication that they did not think they have achieved everything. i tell you, the pressure that they have been under not to give

in on the ground has been unbelievable, although the obama administration has been saying publicly israel has a right to defend itself. the real message to secretary clinton is delivering to netanyahu is, don't even think about going in on the ground. i can tell you, i just came back from paris yesterday. the europeans are heading for the exits. they are deeply afraid of the consequences of an israeli ground incursion, and i think netanyahu has looked around and does not see any support. i think israel will end up here in a weaker strategic position having made the threat but not carry it out. lou: let's follow-up on that. fluor will i want to follow-up on your suggestion. the europeans have never been particularly helpful. that should not be surprising. >> although the financial aid to

egypt as part of the bigger package. i think that if you look at where this starts, it started in october, late october when there was a bombing of the sudanese missile factory. that was israel during the first step of this. take up the missiles that were ultimately going to end up in gaza through the tunnels. the second part of it, waiting for the opportunity. clint eastwood's make my day. and so it could retaliate with absolute just cause. go in and take out the missile battery. from what i gather they have achieved 90 percent of what they set out to do. from israel's point of view, i disagree. much better position now than they were. and put themselves in a much better position. lou: john. >> well, i don't have any relatives in israel, so i don't have anything on the line one way or the other, but the fact that you have mohammad as

president of egypt is a very different strategic situation then mubarak. he, at least, turned a blind eye as these missiles were being smuggled into gaza. the long-range missiles, in particular, are pretty hard to hide on the back of a go. so this is a considerable logistical effort to get however many of the long-range missiles and that they have got in. with security in the sinai continuing to deteriorate, i have to believe if iran wants to put more missiles and, it can. and ultimately this is about iran. lou: is this also about turkey as well as the aspirations of iran? is there a sense that iran wants to engage, broaden this conflict

and move ahead with the confrontation rather than withdraw. >> it is absolutely an iranian strategic decision to do two things. number one, to put pressure on the israelis as they are proceedinggin syria, the iranians are proceeding, as they are proceeding in strengthening hezbollah in lebanon, penetrating. we have to look at the region as a whole plateau. there is a civil war in syria. you know, the muslim brotherhood and other insurgents. so deflect attention from syria. enron is supposed to be the one to encourage factions within hamas to start shelling the israelis. they're going to retaliate. the muslim brotherhood president in egypt, this is not his timing back, but he cannot but support hamas when hamas is attacked or counterattacked. lou: can we save publicly he must support?

what he does privately could be quite different. >> i think that the muslim brotherhood government in north africa had a different plan. they want to take the time to support strategically and are still struggling and the inside. so is the case with turkey cannot answer your question. he is not ready right now to confront anything that has to do with the arab-israeli conflict. his public position has to align with hamas and egypt. the real confrontation is between iran and israel. lou: the real confrontation may be, but the real money is comin@ from the united states and the u.s.-led international monetary fund. billion and a half dollars of president obama has asked for. almost $5 billion. guarantees. this is wherever else it is.

radical islamic state, the muslim brotherhood led egyptian government. it is strangling in an economy that is simply not working. the united states and europe have the trump cards in this. is that an incorrect statement in your judgment? >> yes, because the imf still has already been signed. he has that credit line out there. i think what's going on in egypt is that there is a struggle between -- lou: actually, this deal was reached today. they have not been funded. lou: but the deal is done. acquiescence to judgment and reason. and necessary component. >> as you correctly pointed out that europeans will not put pressure on egypt. he will get his money from the imf. the -- lou: wait a minute. let me interject. i truly believe that it is of fair statement to say, the united states will have its will

with the imf and what it does in this instance. am i wrong? >> well, we will see in a couple of weeks. i think the real struggle here is between morrissey and his ideological instincts on the one hand and elements of the egyptian security structure, the military and the intelligence service on the other. despite his best efforts, still understand where there bread is buttered. so he has -- his line is less concerned with the outside economic factors than it is with dealing with the military, which still is not entirely comfortable, to say the least, with his style of government. no doubt what he will try and do is find a way to prop up those elements of hamas that want to keep the struggle going. maybe not today, but one or six months, we will be back here. lou: unfortunately that has been the template for these incidents

over the course of history. you get the last word. >> he was walking a very narrow tightrope. too much in favor of israel, not tough enough on the israelis are americans. he would have had a problem on his flank. on the other hand, if he decided to aggravate the peace treaty, too cozy, he risks losing all of that aid. without that money the egyptians are starving in the streets. i think he played pretty well. whether he can enforce the agreement and give more weapons coming in we will see. lou: thank you. appreciate it. much more on the president's handling of the middle east with his diplomatic team. the "a-team" coming up next. benghazi and all of the confusion around competing time lines. tonight in the chalk talk we straighten out all of those competing time lines.

the nation's head banker, ben bernanke, has caught thoughts about economic growth, long term high unemployment. wall street legend giving us his assessment here next. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligions. cute obligations, but obligatio. i need to rethink the core omy portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, buding blocks r the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objective risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

♪

♪ lou: in tonight's "moneyline" housing starts of stronger than expected. good news quickly overcome by comments from fed chairman ben bernanke he said the central bank hhs little to do in order to avoid the consequences of that dive off the disco cliff. solution in the hands of congress and the president. markets at that point. lost their weight. yesterday the single best performance, ended up all but unchanged. the dow down seven and a half points, s&p up, the nasdaq up fractionally, light trading today.

here hewlett-packard, that stock not quite. h-p announcing before the open it will take an $9 billion charge for its $11 billion takeover of british software company autonomy. that sent the stock down 12%. h-p ceo said the company was tainted in its purchase of that company and that autonomy misrepresented its financial condition. late today the fbi and ousted is investigating the accounting irregularities exposed by h-p. ironically oracle passed on the opportunity to buy autonomy 1/4 hewlett-packard was offered a deal. oracle said it was overpriced at a much slower $6 billion. and one of the oracle executives critically involved in that decision was a fellow by the name of mark heard, the former h-p ceo who was forced out to back in 2008. hedge fund manager avoided a kit

quarter of a billion in losses and to join stocks in which he held major positions. he quietly sold his stake in those companies of taking short positions and was awarded $9 million for that brilliant move by sec capitol, the company that owns a hedge fund. today the sec, no relation to s. a. c., charged mark thomas with avoiding those losses by using inside information. the sec said he was told by doctors conducting trials on an alzheimer's drug that the drug was no good before the doctors presented their evidence to investors. the largest in tech -- insider-trading action ever filed by the sec. ben bernanke downbeat about the economy in his appearance before the economic hub of new york. the fed chair cautioning their recent financial crisis has lowered the rate at which the economy can and will grow. a loss of skills and productivity.

he's talking about under normal. >> these factors may have pushed up to some degree the so-called natural rate of unemployment. the rate of unemployment can be sustained under normal conditions and reduced labor force participation as well. lou: turning me now, wall street legend, chairman of the army institute. great to have you here. >> good to be year. lou: does not quite rise to the level of irrational and exuberance, but i have the feeling we just witnessed a fed chairman say something that is going to be brought to -- right up next to his name every time he speaks from here on. >> laying the groundwork for putting the blame on congress. if things go wrong, just as he and greenspan before and ignored the causes of the bubble and the recession collapse, which occurred as a result of the raising interest rates very abruptly in 2005 and six.

lou: i have to say, you and i disagree about how well he is doing, a job that i know you think she should not have and not given days i think he should not have, but this is a statement that is -- it leaves me scratching my head. the idea that there is a new normal that rationalizes and employment and low growth, you know, one thing for the fed chair to say this, i guess. to actually believe it is truly disturbing. >> i think he believes it because he believes something about next year. he believes the economy is going to grow as slowly as this past year or even slower. now, what could be the cause of this? the federal reserve monetary policy? what is likely to be the cause? the unwillingness of congress to deal with the fiscal cliff. as he proposed, no dealing with the fiscal cliff. next year, but dealing with it in the future, the far future. this is bizarre. lou: by the way, does the

president have a role in all this? >> well, the president -- lou: in bernanke's mind. >> the president has been -- well, he certainly had something to do with obama's reelection. no question. quantitative easing, qe3, the aggressiveness of the federal reserve to pump up the money supply and attempt to keep the economy on an even keel helped obama and the election. lou: your outlook? fiscal cliff, yes or no? do we go over it? if so, the consequences. >> we do not come by but not for the good reasons which i have heard you analyze. very little movement on tax rates next year. very little movement on spending generally a slight decrease. lou: no movement, are using the bush tax cuts will be allowed to expire? >> no. what i'm saying is that the bush tax cuts, but for a slight modification will persist in 2013. spending reductions, which were

made by the forced sequester will not be made in the amount suggested and will be only modest, and it will be a reduction in spending it will be a modest reduction in the rate of increase in spending such the we will have a $1 trillion plus deficit next year. more of the same. lou: as always. >> thank you. lou: up next to illegal immigrants wants new privileges because, i hate to tell you, it looks like pandering is contagious. imagine that. and forget susan rice. not the plot -- the biggest problem with this administration we will demonstrate to you the gaping holes in the benghazi time line and some extraordinary coincidences in the patraeus time line in the "chalk talk"e e next. fotheir annual football trip. that's double miles you can actually use. tragically, their ddy t sacked by blackouts.

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♪ lou: benghazi, a lot of people are forgetting, pushing in out out of their mind or some organizations don't pay attention. we will take extra time to refresh ourselves on the timeline of a cover-up. it began september 111 hour before 9:40 p.m. private securityyin benghazi in first calls for assistance came

made calls on cellphones and in at precisely that time. at 11:00 p.m., unarmed drone drone arrived to provide real-time intelligence to tripoli and washington broke 12 '07 a.m., the 12th they announced that she react claimed responsibility for the benghazi attack with devours they knew they had real-time surveillance and real-time video and a declaration of responsibility later the same day obama's told the

people "no axe of terror will shake the resolve of this great nation. mini thought it was a throwaway line. during the interview that cbs held for one month the president said quebec crisis negative -- suspicion is there are people involved to target americans from the start. september 13 that answer should be it is the lead suspect the same day the talking points were compiled and released james clapper said he reviewed and altered them. and assigned a very important duty susan rice was on five sunday talk shows.

the petraeus brief lawmakers and agents learned there was no demonstration whatsoever. at that time deal bob administrations had no reason not to understand the entire muslim patio story was gutted by the facts. then the bodies of four americans for return to during a televised ceremony and secretary clinton still denouncing the youtube video. on the 16th ambassador rice is ordered to the top shows she says there is no information the attacks were preplanned adding there is a violent protests outside of the embassy's sparked by the hateful video."

the 18th of september fbi teams arrive in namibia there for more than two weeks because they cannot have permission to get into benghazi. september 19th director counterterrorism unit says point* blake benghazi was a terrorist attack on our embassy. september 20th the state department by $70,000 worth of airtime on pakistani television disavowing the internet video. it was 40 rendered irrelevant september 21st clinton says what happens was a terrorist attack but the same time we found the video at the core of a series of events.

september 28. officer of iraq -- director of national intelligence releases the statement. >> as we learn more about the attack we revised our assessment indicating a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremist. i would remind you they knew september 11th watching in realtime when it was and all of the evidence was there within hours of the attack october first-aid department security teams reviewing security camera footage from more than 10 cash-rich cash-rich -- cameras from within the benghazi compound on october 4th of the fbi finally arrived they left papers all over the floor classified state department

documents. state department officials provided a timeline in benghazi for october 10th house oversight committee tried to link the entire muslim video. october 16th obama called any suggestion he administration played politics offensive. october 26 fox news reported the annex was denied help on the same day paul abroad will give a speech suggesting the reason for the attack in benghazi there were a number of militia members prisoner and held at the annex several days. also reporters of the 26 at the consulate and more sensitive documents the fbi

chose to leave there or missed altogether. general petraeus them paula bravo were interviewed as second time acknowledging bear a fair. the week of october 31st petraeus took classified trip to conduct his own review of the attack. on the first of november it released its timeline of events. remember another time lines were provided by the administration broke the incidentally the justice department informed the director of national intelligence they were investigating general petraeus then the white house is notified about the affair.

november 8, the next day he meets the president and asks to resign. the pentagon releases a time when of its own in response to the september 11 terrorist attack. on the 15th of the rubber classified video from both the house and senate intelligence committees shows no sign that what everybody knew with the realtime video new. general petraeus giving closed-door testimony no public remarks but the intelligence committee said point-blank he had contradicted the version of events provided by the aba mid ministry share.

extensive timeline that bears considerable study by of salt. and a quick note about yesterday's stock dock median family income $30,000 in 1955. 62,000 compared to today progression have mentioned it was $38,000 of today's dollars that would have been $4,400. you get the idea. next time i will talk about then dollars and now dollars. the will be back. >> rockets and more death secretary of state clinton is there. with their be a cease-fire? two weeks after the president is reelected new evidence the liberal mainstream media did a likud

to help mr. obama. isn't the new american economy limiting growth? million unemployed is that really our future? my guest six down with next.

lou: six weeks we tours we hit the fiscal cliff the debt problems are of a if exacerbating problems of zero growth. joining us now executive chairman of bright part news , as steve bannon. how list by bart.com doing? >> excellent. we launched a new site right before andrew passed away with technology and new content almost 80,000 page views per month.

we put content up everyday and these guys are on fire. lou: ben bernanke talking about a new normal that we would have a stubborn loss of skills, high unemployment , the zero growth, what is your reaction? >> they say this is the bernanke's side. look at chris or dirty but other money managers talk about historical growth rates of 4% that are baked into the obama budget are of the past. talk about the demographic wall, the low birthrate we will be less than 1% growth look at the economic crisis

on top of a fiscal crisis. lou: the idea this country can sustain zero growth, high unemployment, it is not in our national day -- dna. i set my hat to whether bernanke or whoever that is not the way this country works. i guess it's a little angry. >> the birthrate 2011 is the lowest in history. corporations are sitting on $1 trillion in cash. the signals are out there by the people's decision that don't have faith in the political class. lou: not about people but multinationals. if you talk about that $2 trillion we talk about

them. people are out there consuming. >> the people have faith with great then 1% growth. lou: we could give them a kiss on the cheek? >> i believe you have to have a stable economic environment that is are we have gotten our growth. the political class cares about themselves without regard to the american people. >> what do i make of those multinationals? >> let them go. it shows strong positive national leadership to grab their hands and carried them

through this. >> if the fed chairman's speech today is as a obtuse as the predecessor look at the reports of people that layout and washington is still talking to hurt us about the decisions that remake. >> it is also not written about academic treatises treatises, talk about the bert -- labor. and left out one component of population growth. here is the dirty little secret. secret. you have to have population growth. and this country is going in the wrong direction.

>> 2011 lowest birthrate in the country. lou: great to have you here. congratulations. bright bart.com. ed klein tomorrow. we will talk about the birth rate, the fed chairman and other terrible people i am sure. they are not. doug shown will be here to sort out the politics.

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lou: joining me now is the "a team." lis wiehl let me start with you. with the timeline rector of

national intelligence acknowledges he change the language of the talking points to take out any reference to terrorism. at the beginning we were told there is nothing in there now it is completely 180 and i am disturbed. what is the truth? the story keeps changing. >> are we specialize of the secret world in cambridge and it means spies. it is a very uneasy relationship with the media. this will be a tipping point* because the fbi and cia will have to figure out a way to work with the press >> everytime this happens it is distressful.

>> i want to know when was a change? and the fact the white house went along, "c.s.i." -- cia, fbi, the white house knew it was the act of terror even if the idea and i said it is not. they took it out it is there obligation to set the record straight. >> calling the letter with the congressman to suggest ambassador rice not be nominated as secretary of state there were codeword in the letter what do make of that? >> on some levels i wonder but the republicans have the massive people of color and single women he would have

thought that big argument was not against people who were doing her job. susan rice was doing her job. >> there is a double standard. the letter said she was willfully are willfully mess -- misled the american people. it is ooe of the other. lou: the build the back and settle this.

lou: welcome back with the "a-team." brad, i want to turn to you. the code words, the defensive ambassador rice. she lied to the american people. it was part of the job description. that is not an adequate defense. >> it is not. living back in the 60's and trying to use that in 2012 to intimidate people to back off. she is incompetent. no question about it. she should know better. she was selected by the white %-you have to be selected by the

white house to appear on five sunday shows. lou: she should a knowledge that he did that, but my question is this. this is where it seems to be a fair question of balance. why in the world are people talking about the incompetence, arrogance, and the bad judgment of david petraeus? the horrible conduct by this administration. that -- they have singled out, and i think it is fair. they have singled out ambassador rise as the lightning rod in this when the president -- take on me. i would be glad to oblige. i think it is absolutely inexcusable the way he is conducting his administration. >> i think people like -- people who really respect petraeus have gone after him. congressman peter king, rogers, the chairman of the into committee. lou: have not heard anyone -- lou: you're right. they have not use that word. and that the and i.

i mean, you talk about a world of spies. come on. >> obviously a major problem. the intelligence community. i don't think that is susan rice is a problem. given those talking points by the intelligence community. the intelligence community needs to be looked at and their relationship with the public's fear. >> the president of the united states who needs to be like that without question. >> she would not have been saying those things. come on. lou: we are out of time. i wish we could continue. thank you all. that is it for us tonight. we thank you for being with us. we will see you here tomorrow. good night from new york. ♪ d the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to t my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the hoday stress. save on ground shpping at fedex office.

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